Date of Award

8-2009

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. Patrick H. Munley

Second Advisor

Dr. Lonnie E. Duncan

Third Advisor

Dr. Evelyn B. Winfield

Abstract

Although the literature has emphasized the importance of understanding between White racial consciousness, feminist identity development and family environment. Based on the relationships described by the canonical functions considered noteworthy in the analyses three main findings appeared to emerge. First, family environments that were perceived by White undergraduate women to promote engagement with a variety of outside perspectives were related to more actively antiracist worldviews and well-developed feminist identities; while family environments perceived to reflect a more insular focus (i.e. less exposure to divergent opinions) were related to more prejudicial racial attitudes and less feminist identity development. Second, the more advanced stages of feminist identity development were related to more anti-racist White racial consciousness attitudes. Third, emerging understandings of both sexism and racism appear to be related to each other. Findings and implications are discussed and suggestions made for future research. multiple aspects of collective group identity, relatively little attention has been directed toward quantitatively exploring how two or more collective group identities relate to one another. Additionally, the influence of one's family of origin has not been explored in relationship to aspects of collective identity development, such as feminist identity development and White racial consciousness. Given the unique nature of undergraduate White women's identities, both historically oppressed and historically oppressive, this study examined the connections between White racial consciousness and feminist identity development. Further, this study investigated how family environment related to both White racial consciousness and feminist identity development.

A sample of 394 White, undergraduate females participated in this study. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire and three assessment measures: the Oklahoma Racial Attitudes Scale-Revised (ORAS-R) (Vandiver & Leach, 2005), the Feminist Identity Composite (FIC) (Fischer et. al, 2000) and the Family Environment Scale-Real Form (FES-R) (Moos & Moos, 1974, 1994, 2002). Four separate canonical correlation analyses were conducted to examine the relationships

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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